Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Big Daddy O'Reilly
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Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

Post by Big Daddy O'Reilly »

This was discussed on BCA at one point, I think it may be interesting to see people's thoughts and opinions here...

Many people feel that Margaret's pregnancy scare suggests that if she was indeed pregnant, that Donald wasn't the father, because she kept saying that, "Donald and I are not... uh... uh...", etc. The problem is, that doesn't add up to what she had confided in Hawkeye earlier in the episode: she starts off by telling him that she was with Donald in Tokyo about six weeks ago before she mentions she thinks she's pregnant... now, admittedly, I'm not an expert on conception, but I believe it takes at least three weeks for the typical symptoms like Margaret had to appear, doesn't it? Let alone be able to determine the pregnancy. Also, as she talks to Hawkeye, she blames Donald for everything (as in the fact that her pregnancy means the end of her military career) to which Hawk replies, "Well, I wouldn't pin it all on Donald, I'm sure you were there at the time it happened".

All things considered, Donald would have had to have been the father, though that still doesn't explain the later "Donald and I are not... uh... uh..." thing. Of course, there's always the continuity errors as well: how long was the engagement? Eight weeks, or eight months? I forget, but irregardless, Margaret dropped all sexual contact with Frank, and others (remember, she was having affairs with practically all the Generals as well), and hinted throughout the engagement that she and Donald must have already had some sort of intimacy ("He paid for that shower curtain out of his own pocket, and it wasn't even our fault when it ripped").
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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And also, just 'cause I know a thing or two about bunnies, I would like to point something out:

Bongo is supposed to be a male bunny, and Fluffy is supposed to be female, however, I can tell just by looking that they used a female bunny for Bongo and a male bunny for Fluffy. Here's how I can tell: bunnies have a part of their anatomy called "dewlaps", they're kind of like breasts in humans, male bunnies' dewlaps aren't as pronounced, where as female bunnies' are, and you can see Bongo has a rather pronounced dewlap, but Fluffy doesn't. Also, girl bunnies have longer eyelashes, lol. ;)

And here's something that just now caught my eye that I never noticed before: after Fluffy's operation is finished, obviously her torso is bandaged up, but when they cut to a close up of Radar during the hold-up, Fluffy's bandages disappear.

HAWKEYE: Charles! Learn to knock first, we have a naked bunny in here!
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Of all the things they got wrong over the years I think using the wrong sex bunny was one of the least important. :P
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Garbage Officer wrote:Of all the things they got wrong over the years I think using the wrong sex bunny was one of the least important. :P
Well, how about this then...

If Margaret was only having gallbladder problems, why were her symptoms similar to that of prenancy anyway? Usually when someone has gallbladder problems one of the only symptoms is sharp, excrutiation pain in the right side; my mother had gallbladder problems last year (ended up having surgery to remove it), and that's really the only symptom she had.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Big Daddy O'Reilly wrote: If Margaret was only having gallbladder problems, why were her symptoms similar to that of prenancy anyway? Usually when someone has gallbladder problems one of the only symptoms is sharp, excrutiation pain in the right side; my mother had gallbladder problems last year (ended up having surgery to remove it), and that's really the only symptom she had.
That's better!
To be fair though, the body is a strange thing and people can get different symptoms. Maybe Margaret had a pregnancy scare at some point previous to this with the same sort of symptoms. Very unlikely but maybe.
Also the female body is a strange thing and with the cycle it goes through, you can tell if something's off or strange going on. I don't want to freak people out with any examples, but there are examples I won't mention. :P
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Big Daddy O'Reilly wrote:This was discussed on BCA at one point, I think it may be interesting to see people's thoughts and opinions here...

Many people feel that Margaret's pregnancy scare suggests that if she was indeed pregnant, that Donald wasn't the father, because she kept saying that, "Donald and I are not... uh... uh...", etc. The problem is, that doesn't add up to what she had confided in Hawkeye earlier in the episode: she starts off by telling him that she was with Donald in Tokyo about six weeks ago before she mentions she thinks she's pregnant... now, admittedly, I'm not an expert on conception, but I believe it takes at least three weeks for the typical symptoms like Margaret had to appear, doesn't it? Let alone be able to determine the pregnancy. Also, as she talks to Hawkeye, she blames Donald for everything (as in the fact that her pregnancy means the end of her military career) to which Hawk replies, "Well, I wouldn't pin it all on Donald, I'm sure you were there at the time it happened".
I always took what Margaret said as her and Donald weren't in a 'good place' at the moment. Because they were always fighting and she had some inklings that he may have been cheating on her.. So they weren't in a perfect marriage and they were having problems. That's what i always though she meant by "Donald and I are not.. uh.. umm.. Well we aren't.. uh.." .. But then again, i don't know. But that's just my little guess at it ;)
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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I assume Margaret's stumbling over what she's trying not to say is that her and Donald weren't having sex at that time.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Garbage Officer wrote:I assume Margaret's stumbling over what she's trying not to say is that her and Donald weren't having sex at that time.
And that's the point of the confusion: that's what everybody gathered from what she was trying not to say... BUT again, what she confides in Hawkeye earlier would contradict that, because it would suggest otherwise.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Big Daddy O'Reilly wrote:
Garbage Officer wrote:I assume Margaret's stumbling over what she's trying not to say is that her and Donald weren't having sex at that time.
And that's the point of the confusion: that's what everybody gathered from what she was trying not to say... BUT again, what she confides in Hawkeye earlier would contradict that, because it would suggest otherwise.
Maybe it just means since the last time they were together. Or maybe she's a cheat. :P
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Yeah, that could be a possibility, considering all throughout early Season Six, they, for some reason, wanted to make Charles her new love interest... guess they wanted him to replace Frank in more ways than one.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Big Daddy O'Reilly wrote:Yeah, that could be a possibility, considering all throughout early Season Six, they, for some reason, wanted to make Charles her new love interest... guess they wanted him to replace Frank in more ways than one.
I think her & Charles were quite sweet together.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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I just looked up gall bladder symptoms on-line, and while gall stones cause the sharp pain your mother (and my sister) experienced because they look like big stony sand-spurs - a silent gall stone, meaning one without the barbs, can bring on the symptoms Margaret experienced, including "that time of the month hasn't been that time of the month... and that was LAST month!".
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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Hmm... that may be why my mother never experienced any of those kind of symptoms until the stones got bigger; after I was born, she had a hysterectomy, so she doesn't have "that time of the month" anymore... something my sister should SERIOUSLY take a hint from, she's REALLY overly dramatic when that happens, lol.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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I never thought that Margaret was cheating but that she was concerned about bringing a child into a doomed marriage. I think that she foresaw a bloody divorce in her future especially after finding out that he was writing love letters to another woman and that, to him, she was only "sturdy." Face it she was only happy before her marriage and at the time of her marriage. She came back from her honeymoon early and in a bad mood; not a good sign.

It is implied that she had several flings; with Hawkeye in the hut (comrades in arms part 1 & 2) when they are MIA and with a guy that hits on her while she's depressed about her marriage (I don't remember if this is before or after that episode). That said she doesn't imply that she thinks that someone else is the father but what's foremost on her mind is that her marriage going down the drain and that a child would only make things worse. Secondary to that is that she'd have to leave the army.

Now she obviously didn't have any serious boyfriends after Donald because she recognized that she is married to the army and really no one at the 4077 was interested in having a serious relationship with her especially Charles. The only person he ever expressed any interest in was that bimbo (Ain't love grand).

All things considered I suppose that it's possible she might have been pregnant by someone else but I doubt it. It doesn't really matter anyway because she was more concerned with the possibility that she's pregnant and it's implications over who the father might or might not be.
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Re: Margaret's Pregnancy Scare

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townsbg wrote: It is implied that she had several flings; with Hawkeye in the hut (comrades in arms part 1 & 2) when they are MIA and with a guy that hits on her while she's depressed about her marriage (I don't remember if this is before or after that episode).
I'm not sure, but I don't quite remember that. Yes, she and Hawkeye did have that intimate evening in the abandoned hut, but I believe at that time, the only thing that was implied was that she was interested in Charles: the writers seemed to always try to throw those two together when he first arrived, I guess because when they had to replace Frank as a character, they felt the need to replace him as Margaret's squeeze as well.
Now she obviously didn't have any serious boyfriends after Donald because she recognized that she is married to the army and really no one at the 4077 was interested in having a serious relationship with her especially Charles.
What about Jack Scully? I think he may have been the closest thing to a "serious boyfriend" since Donald that she had, even though he was only in a small number of episodes, but still.

All in all, I don't know why the writers went in the directions that they did, but it really bothered Gene Reynolds; I know he had left the show by then, but he still consulted with Alan Alda about the show's progress once a week after his departure, it's my understanding that Gene felt that Margaret's marriage was a big step in the character's development, and that he intended for her to remain married. I think also spoke up about the obvious Margaret/Charles fluff that was going on, which is why that didn't last long.
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